I was aware of it, but I couldn't for the life of me imagine that this show would feature Zecora's hoops being used in such a way, any more than I could imagine hoof-binding on oriental ponies to make their hooves smaller.

Foot binding isn't practiced anymore but the neck lengthening is still around, so is attaching plates to their lips. Zecora doesn't really have enough on to lengthen her neck, but once you get those on I'm pretty sure you can't take them off without bolt cutters.